


Until You Came Along

by plantedpluto



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Pre-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus), Wilderness School (Percy Jackson)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29540820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantedpluto/pseuds/plantedpluto
Summary: Fourteen year old Piper McLean had finally gained her father’s attention from all her dramatic antics. That’s what she’d wanted for a while; just to be noticed, right? Yes and no. Unfortunately, she didn’t expect to find herself at Wilderness School - a place that was apparently better than juvie.A few states away, Leo Valdez - of the same age - knew it was only a matter of time before he got caught by a truant officer, sent to court and then to juvie. Correction, they’d sentenced him to Wilderness School as the place where he’d be staying for who knows how long.It took awhile for the two to come around to be friends, but once they were, strange things started happening around the school…
Kudos: 4





	Until You Came Along

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first multi-chapter fanfiction, and I am pretty excited about it, not going to lie. I hope there's some interest in it because I tried searching for one with the same premise to read and there wasn't, so I'm writing my own. 
> 
> So...without further ado? 
> 
> (This takes place in mid August of 2009 and follows the two up until the events of The Lost Hero, and includes flashbacks to when they first met in June)

**Piper I**

* * *

Piper let out a few deep breaths, trying to not to hyperventilate from the aftermath of crying on the cold, tiled floor of the bathroom. She pulled her knees to her chest and wracked out heavy sobs just after she gained a slight bit of composure. A pair of large scissors sat on the floor, opened with short snips of hair still attached to the wet blades. 

Surrounding Piper were little strands of her own hair, different lengths like a kindergartner gave her a trim. When she had sat down, Piper pushed away all her formerly beautiful hair as she buried her head in her knees and cried. 

Realizing it was late in the night and she couldn’t stay forever, she stood and looked in the sink as she readied herself to leave. Darker and longer splotches of brown, even a few of her large braid ends littered the bowl. Piper examined herself in the mirror and picked up the scissors from the floor. She positioned herself for a good cut to try and level it out, watching as the first chunk of hair she snipped off fluttered to the bottom of the sink. 

It didn’t make it look any better at all.

Piper stepped back and glared at the mound of hair that had accumulated in the sink. Unsure of what to do, she picked them up in small piles, dumping them into the toilet to flush down. Piper frowned, almost crying again when her beautiful locks faded into oblivion.

Picking up a pitiful hair tie she left next to the faucet from her braids, she tied her hair in a low bun, exiting the bathroom with the scissors held safely to her side. If she hadn't thought of that first, she would’ve had to deal with sitting on the floor holding a bloody roommate. Then it would be juvie time. 

“Piper,” Isabel announced her presence, stretching her arm over her head. She was dressed in simple matching pajamas with slippers that exposed her perfectly manicured toes. Piper looked down at her own feet, hers didn’t look that nice - most likely from wearing actual shoes. “What’re the scissors for?”

Was she fucking kidding? This was all her fault. 

When Piper didn’t bother to answer, Isabel shrugged, leaning a hand on the doorframe. “Well, I need to use the restroom, so out of my way, McLean.”

Piper said nothing but pushed past Isabel, depositing the scissors in her desk drawer when she got back in the room. 

She picked up and threw a jar of Isabel’s pencils to the floor, a few skittering enough to hide under the bed and be swallowed by the vent near the window. Piper considered climbing out the window, taking a bag, and just running away. Escaping a place that only brought more anguish than being ignored by her father. 

Then again, it wasn’t a good choice. It would be pretty difficult to live in the middle of nowhere in a hot terrain, possibly even more dangerous to hitchhike her way to back California. 

She slid into bed, turned off her own light, and when Isabel came in and shrieked at the mess, Piper resisted the urge to point out that a small sense of karma had caught up with her roommate.

There was no doubt that Isabel knew Piper did it, and Piper didn’t feel a smidge of guilt regarding her actions. 

Karma’s a bitch.

_____

Piper furrowed her brows when Dylan complimented her hair, attempting to reach out to caress the newly shorter braids she’d tied that day, and when she got too far, proceeded to catcall her from down the hall with a whistle.

She fucking hated Dylan. All he did with Isabel is ask her questions about her tribe which they altered to fit stereotypical insults. And of course, Leo Valdez - her best friend, was roomed with Dylan. They both got to endure the bullying of that couple. 

Piper rolled down a portion of her dark green and black uniform kilt, on the off chance that maybe that was why Dylan did it, and adjusted her matching tie that was underneath her quarter zip sweater. 

At least when she went to trade out her books at her locker, she could avert her gaze ignore the glances of snickering classmates.

“Pipes!” a familiar voice called, snapping her out of her daze, leaning on the locker right next to her. “What the...” he set a juice box on the top shelf of her locker and grabbed a small section of her newly cut hair, running his fingers along the top of the different tufts. 

Piper yanked it back after she closed her locker. “I...It was a split second decision,” she lied, kicking a half-eaten apple that lay on the floor as they walked. “This whole half-juvie boarding school is getting to me.”

Leo said nothing, continuing down the hall to their Math class drinking his apple juice. He slid into one of the back seats, starting to wad up small pieces of paper he tore from his notebook. He sat cross legged, continually brushing off the pieces that he took off too small and ended up just throwing in his lap. 

“Well...you did steal a BMW,” he muttered as Piper started her notes. They were getting good at being discreet while talking in class. "I only ran away a few times."

“I didn’t _steal_ the car!” Piper hissed, shutting up quickly when their teacher looked over. Her face was inches from her notes to look busy, and she glanced back at him when the coast was clear. “I know this sounds like a lie, but the salesman gave it to me.”

“Why didn’t you just buy it?” Leo implicitly suggested. “I mean...your dad’s loaded.” he whispered, though she could also tell he said it with a hint of jealousy. 

Leo was the only one to know she was the daughter of the famous actor, Tristan McLean. That was one thing that could make matters worse for her around here; word getting out that you have a famous father and had the _audacity_ to steal a vehicle. 

Unfortunately, some people were still suspicious after finding out they have the same last name, but she shrugged it off and said it must be a coincidence. 

“It was a joke to see what he’d do, Leo,” she explained, watching as he grossly ate the paper. “I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if you gave me that car?’ and then he just handed over the keys. It was sarcasm!”

“What was sarcasm?” Mrs Dodds asked. _Fuck_. What was Piper supposed to say to that? 

“Oh, uh…” she murmured. “I was just reminding Leo of where sarcasm can be found in the book we’re reading for English.”

“Ms McLean, talk about your English class or whatever, later. We’re talking about trigonometry right now.”

Piper nodded glumly until Mrs Dodds looked away, and then sent Leo a sharp glare. He just shrugged as if to say, _I didn’t do anything_ \- which he most definitely did something. 

Next thing she knew, Leo dumped the tiny dots of paper in this mouth, swished them around, then used the straw from his juice box to spitfire about a dozen of them at the back of Mrs Dodds’ head. Then he handed an extra straw from his pocket to Piper before their teacher looked back. Leo sent Piper a playful smile, then with no expression, looked back at their math teacher.

Now they were both in trouble. 

Mrs Dodds didn’t say a word, but pointed directly at the door, angry gaze flickering between the two of them. All the students had been there long enough to know that look meant: _Detention. Now._

Piper slammed down the straw, swung her bag across her back, stormed out of the room, and avoided eye contact with Leo at all costs. Why did he feel the need to make things worse? Sure, he didn’t have any family left, but Piper _did_ and she already felt like such a disappointment to her father. And Jane...she would get a call, and Piper hated the “stepmother” attitude that came with his father’s assistant’s excoriation. 

The farther she got from Leo, the better. Though, in a second his rough, calloused hand gripped her wrist over her uniform sweatshirt, and she stared at Leo. It was no use yelling at him, what would that achieve? Absolutely nothing. 

“Piper,” Leo said. For once in his life, Leo sounded one hundred percent serious. He’d only ever called her ‘Pipes’ since learning her name, and he was never chill about it. Piper had a high feeling that something was very wrong. “I didn’t mean that.”

Piper turned around, softly removing his hand from around her wrist. His hand immediately went up and tugged at the strap of his crossbody bag. It seemed to be frayed in the same spot - was that charcoal too? - like he always fiddled with it when she wasn’t looking. 

“Then what did you mean?” she finally asked. 

“It’s Mrs Dodds…” he started, leaning on a locker. Piper quickly checked the hallways for any sign of eavesdropping, but the only thing she spotted was another boy going into the bathroom. The entire population of students were naturally delinquents, and not much snitching goes around without a shit ton of bullying, so she was sure the arbitrary student wouldn’t say anything. 

Even Piper had seen enough stuff to fill an hour’s worth of time telling the principal, but her peers’ wrath wasn’t worth it. “Something’s not right about her, I just know it.” he said.

“Explain.” 

“Well, I don’t even remember her introducing herself, and isn’t it odd that she just shows up out of nowhere? She’s actually a good teacher, and she chooses to teach delinquents like us? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.” 

“I think they get paid a lot for putting up with our bullshit,” Piper snorted. “That is, if I overheard our principal correctly.”

Leo sighed. “Piper, I believe your car story, alright?” he said, earnestly. “Weird things happen with me too.” 

Was it just Piper’s imagination, or did the ashen-coloured fraying part on Leo’s bag get larger? She shook away the thought, focusing back to what Leo was actually saying. “Now that I believe you - which I did from the start, you need to believe me.” 

He took her shoulders lightly and rounded the corner away from the main hall. “Leo, now you’re freaking me out. What is it?”

“Her eyes, Piper,” he muttered. “They... _glow_.” 

Piper dry laughed, surprisingly sincere. The tables had definitely turned because Leo didn’t even look remotely amused; in fact, he looked almost scared. “Glowed? Like in the sunlight?” 

Leo huffed and banged on a locker, then blocked it lightly with his hands to slow the obnoxious shuddering of the metal. “I’m being serious, they glowed red, in broad daylight.” he explained, his hand karate chopping his palm repetitively with every word. “She’s been looking at me like that for days, what did I do?”

“Nothing,” Piper said shortly, gently stopping Leo’s fidgeting hands. Leo was not joking, and that was the time to accept that. “You didn’t do anything. But - as much as we hate it - we need to go to detention. I don’t want garbage pick up duty again.” 

Leo rolled his eyes then followed her to the empty classroom, their gym teacher sitting at the desk on a computer. He looked at them like, _you two, again?_ but then cocked his head for them to sit and continued working. 

Piper slid into the seat, scowling as she felt small bumps under her desk brush against her skirt. She didn’t contribute to the gum stash hidden under there and she still had to endure it. Disgusting. 

Apparently Leo was able to amuse himself well, considering he folded one of those fortune telling games fairly quickly. In a matter of seconds he was now decorating it with what Piper assumed to be idiotic scenarios. His writing was like chicken scratch though, so she couldn’t tell what anything he wrote actually said. 

Piper swore he was thinking the same thing as her, because Leo leaned over and whispered, “What do you think about sneaking into Mrs Dodds’ office tonight? Find out what’s really going on.”

She grinned in return, shaking his hand under their desks before Leo suggested she choose a category from his fortune telling game.

**Author's Note:**

> I know this chapter’s a bit short, but I was just trying to kick off the story before I got to the more complicated storyline.


End file.
